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Ask HN: Any learning resources or hype materials for project management?

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Ask HN: Any learning resources or hype materials for project management?

#1
My role is software engineer but lately I’ve been taking on more PM responsibilities. Are there any good online communities, learning resources, or PM hype materials to get me excited about this stuff?

Right now I am reading “head first pmp” to get me started

Re: Ask HN: Any learning resources or hype materials for project management?

#3
post #2

Camille Fourier - The manager's path is not exactly exciting but a down to earth no bullshit description of what awaits you. I recommend it.

From what I recall that book is more about people management, not so much project management which the OP is asking about.

Re: Ask HN: Any learning resources or hype materials for project management?

#5
I enjoyed “Making Things Happen” by Scott Berkun. You can start with the blog [1] to see if you like the style and probably get a good overview without needing the book.

Other than that, there is the standard set of PMP prep resources, but I didn’t find any of those to be anything other than dry and boring.

[1] https://scottberkun.com/blog/

Re: Ask HN: Any learning resources or hype materials for project management?

#8

I enjoyed “Making Things Happen” by Scott Berkun. You can start with the blog [1] to see if you like the style and probably get a good overview without needing the book. Other than that, there is the standard set of PMP prep resources, but I didn’t find any of those to be anything other than dry and boring. [1] https://scottberkun.com/blog/

Thank you! I will check this out :)

Update: this book looks like it came out in 2008. Still relevant?

Re: Ask HN: Any learning resources or hype materials for project management?

#9
Honestly I kind of rail against the suitability of traditional Project management thinking in tech.

Beyond knowing: who does what, and by when, and for how much $$ the project management frameworks are largely fluff.

A decent task list, with deadlines, a gantt chart if you want to be fancy, and a stakeholder RACI matrix are really all you need.

Everything else is soft skills, managing stakeholders, getting alignment, getting out of the way of the individual contributors.

And in the workplace any specific framework adherence is largely just a stylistic choice of documentation, if you have a handle of who does what and by when, and for how much $$ and some dependency understanding, you are >90% of the way to keeping any project under control.

Also knowing what your role actually is, and not confusing project management with product management which is much different.

Re: Ask HN: Any learning resources or hype materials for project management?

#10

Honestly I kind of rail against the suitability of traditional Project management thinking in tech. Beyond knowing: who does what, and by when, and for how much $$ the project management frameworks are largely fluff. A decent task list, with deadlines, a gantt chart if you want to be fancy, and a stakeholder RACI matrix are really all you need. Everything else is soft skills, managing stakeholders, getting alignment,…

The question is rather how to create RACI that is equal for all stakeholders.
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